Just a few random updates from my life recently:
--The government heat just went off for the spring. In areas of China north of the Yangtze River, the government supplies heat to most apartments and other buildings, and it turns on and goes off on set dates, changeable only for extreme weather conditions. There was talk back in November that the heat would go on early because of extreme cold, but it didn't, only coming on November 15th, to everyone's extreme relief. And it went off right on schedule on March 16th, when I was struck by a chill sitting on my couch next to the window and realized the radiator was cold. This is actually mostly a good thing for me, however, as I was unable to control the heat at all in my apartment and it was mostly SO HOT that it was sometimes difficult to fall asleep. I could have opened the window, but the pollution outside made me averse that option, so mostly I have walked around scantily clad and slept with no sheets. Now, since it is warming up outside (60 F today!) it is slightly chilly in here, but manageable!
-- I took 4 successful taxi rides yesterday (more than I normally take in a month)! 'Successful' means that the taxi driver understand my pronunciation of my address and managed to get me to the right place. In one of the taxis I even managed to have a (albeit limited) conversation with the driver that included him asking me if I had a boyfriend (yes) and if I had any kids yet (no, thankfully!) I'm not sure where he was going with this line of conversation, but as I didn't understand what came next, I was spared!
--And I have just been published for the first time in a scientific journal! It is actually a paper from my work in France at the Institut Laue-Langevin on my Fulbright year. More papers from China are in the pipeline, but this was especially exciting as it is my first ever!
Link to paper: http://scripts.iucr.org/cgi-bin/paper?S1744309111002351
--The government heat just went off for the spring. In areas of China north of the Yangtze River, the government supplies heat to most apartments and other buildings, and it turns on and goes off on set dates, changeable only for extreme weather conditions. There was talk back in November that the heat would go on early because of extreme cold, but it didn't, only coming on November 15th, to everyone's extreme relief. And it went off right on schedule on March 16th, when I was struck by a chill sitting on my couch next to the window and realized the radiator was cold. This is actually mostly a good thing for me, however, as I was unable to control the heat at all in my apartment and it was mostly SO HOT that it was sometimes difficult to fall asleep. I could have opened the window, but the pollution outside made me averse that option, so mostly I have walked around scantily clad and slept with no sheets. Now, since it is warming up outside (60 F today!) it is slightly chilly in here, but manageable!
-- I took 4 successful taxi rides yesterday (more than I normally take in a month)! 'Successful' means that the taxi driver understand my pronunciation of my address and managed to get me to the right place. In one of the taxis I even managed to have a (albeit limited) conversation with the driver that included him asking me if I had a boyfriend (yes) and if I had any kids yet (no, thankfully!) I'm not sure where he was going with this line of conversation, but as I didn't understand what came next, I was spared!
--And I have just been published for the first time in a scientific journal! It is actually a paper from my work in France at the Institut Laue-Langevin on my Fulbright year. More papers from China are in the pipeline, but this was especially exciting as it is my first ever!
Link to paper: http://scripts.iucr.org/cgi-bin/paper?S1744309111002351
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